*crawls out from under his rock*
Oh hi.
So.....about Mask of Eternity.
I was finally able to start recording again, and I've quite unfortunately hit that little well-known snag concerning the cutscene at the windmill. For those who don't know what I'm talking about: [spoiler]right after you get the axe and step outside, the black knight appears for the first time and attempts to claim the Mask piece from you. After Connor says "En garde!" you should be able to move forward and attack the knight. But in this case, I can't. The music plays, the characters cycle through their idle animations and I can open and close the map and the interface, but I can't do anything else. I can't move Connor in any way, there's no mouse cursor, I can't switch between first-person and third-person views and I can't return to the menu. My only option is to Ctrl-Alt-Del to force-minimize the game and end it through the Task Manager.[/spoiler]
This is, of course, a known issue with MoE. I've tried all of the suggestions listed at the Sierra Help Pages here (http://sierrahelp.com/Games/KingsQuest/KQMoEHelp.html#XP). I've only been able to get it working once, and at that point I had been messing around so much that I wasn't prepared to record. I then reloaded my save from inside the windmill without even exiting out of the game or changing anything, and it stopped working again and hasn't since.
I've also tried two different versions of the game: GOG's version (the patch doesn't run on this one; I assume it's already patched) and the standard CD-ROM version. Neither work. I've tried starting a new game. I've tried leaving the windmill, doing other things and coming back later. I've tried changing graphics options. I was going to try sacrificing a young goat at midnight under the full moon, but figured the neighbors wouldn't appreciate the mess.
Anyway, I've pretty much run out of options. I'm on XP Pro SP3; I wasn't able to get the darn thing working properly on 7, though I'm trying again at the moment. If anyone has any suggestions, I would really love to hear them. I have nothing to offer, unfortunately, other than an honorable mention in my MoE LP and my wholehearted gratitude. Thanks!
I think I encountered that once. Don't know what we did, but we were just kids so probably just kept restarting until it didn't happen.
Was this an issue ever covered in the patch?
If I recall correctly, I just screwed around with the 1st/3rd-person perspective, the walk/run cycle, and the weapon out/weapon concealed modes. Usually, it froze at least twice before working the third time. There is no definitive answer to this issue, as it's very much a matter of trial and error.
Of course, there's an even worse instance of this bug later on in the Barren Regions, but we'll deal with that troll, as they say, when we come to that bridge.
Quote from: Bludshot on July 15, 2012, 09:52:37 PMWas this an issue ever covered in the patch?
People have reported that patching the game fixed the problem, but I'm thinking that it was pure coincidence; otherwise, logically, it would work for everyone.
Quote from: 929572 on July 16, 2012, 03:45:35 PMIf I recall correctly, I just screwed around with the 1st/3rd-person perspective, the walk/run cycle, and the weapon out/weapon concealed modes. Usually, it froze at least twice before working the third time. There is no definitive answer to this issue, as it's very much a matter of trial and error.
I was afraid of that. Didn't try messing with walk/run, though...
QuoteOf course, there's an even worse instance of this bug later on in the Barren Regions, but we'll deal with that troll, as they say, when we come to that bridge.
Oh goodie, lol.
I did encounter that bug recently. I could not fix it but when I restarted the computer it was fine. The only patch that I know of out there is for the statue head in the Dimensions of Death. Other than those few speed bumps, everything run fine.
So...you might say that completing this game...'tis beyond your reach?
:rofl:
Quote from: waltzdancing on July 16, 2012, 11:53:22 PM
I did encounter that bug recently. I could not fix it but when I restarted the computer it was fine.
Did that, too. Drats.
Quote from: KatieHal on July 17, 2012, 07:49:09 AM
So...you might say that completing this game...'tis beyond your reach?
:rofl:
Heh heh heh. Yeah, you might say that. :)
Well, your first trouble is that you are playing "Mask of Eternity".
To fix this problem, I suggest you either remove the CD from your drive, of if it is a digital copy, delete it off of your computer. This will prevent you from encountering this error again.
Bt
I and many others have already tried this. It doesn't work. No matter what you do, Mask of Eternity will never go away. Once you have first opened the application, you have already lost. It will rip, and tear, and mutilate the innocent, your friends and family, again and again, and on and on. You are trapped, you can never escape, and your pain will never end...
...no wait, I'm thinking of Telltale Games products. Never mind.
Quote from: Blackthorne on July 18, 2012, 05:02:36 PM
Well, your first trouble is that you are playing "Mask of Eternity".
To fix this problem, I suggest you either remove the CD from your drive, of if it is a digital copy, delete it off of your computer. This will prevent you from encountering this error again.
Bt
So much hate. Mask of Eternity is just as much a King's Quest game as any other in the series. Remember that time Graham talked about grain?
Quote from: Blackthorne on July 18, 2012, 05:02:36 PM
Well, your first trouble is that you are playing "Mask of Eternity".
To fix this problem, I suggest you either remove the CD from your drive, of if it is a digital copy, delete it off of your computer. This will prevent you from encountering this error again.
Bt
I'd still rather play it than KQ7.
Heh heh heh. I tease, I tease. I don't actually hate the game more as I'm ambivalent to it. I just don't care, really. I don't like it, but I don't hate it. It's more like that box of cereal that's been in your cupboard for ages. You don't want to eat it, but you haven't bothered to throw it away either. You just don't care.
Bt
I'm pretty much in the same boat. I don't hate it, but it's fun enough to make me want to revisit it every now and then.
I think the first level (Daventry) is expertly put together. I love the way you're introduced to various game systems, weapons and armour, and the way they're all placed on the map. It feels very fluid to me, and there's a real sense of progress.
The Dimension of Death... not so much. One square kilometre of repetitive labyrinth? Not fun. And it's been ages since I played beyond the DoD (I started replaying it a year ago but stopped there) so I can't comment on anything beyond that; I was too young and impressionable to have reliable taste when I first played it.
Having said that, I don't think it's really a King's Quest game. It just feels so different to the other games in the series. I feel kind of sorry for it, actually: if they'd made it as a standalone game, with no links to the KQ series at all, I think it'd be a much-loved classic with a small but determined cult following. As it is, all the people who know about it are also KQ fans, so it gets nothing but hate.
Anyway, sorry, got rather off-topic there. I'm afraid I don't know how to fix the problem. :( I take it you've tried fiddling with the troubleshooting sliders in XP? (Or am I thinking of '98 there?)
I'm with Darthkiwi -- I have two problems with Mask of Eternity.
1) I just don't think it was ever *finished* -- it just doesn't feel like they were ready to release it when they did. Some parts are polished nicely, but most of them aren't at all.
2) It got called a King's Quest. Like, an extension of the series. It should have been a standalone game or the beginning of a total separate spin-off series, so they could have marketed it as a standalone game AND marketed to King's Quest fans. But that's not what they did -- and that's probably the biggest downfall of the game.
Quote from: Lambonius on July 18, 2012, 09:10:47 PM
I'd still rather play it than KQ7.
I'm with you there. I've always preferred gritty over kiddie.
Besides, MoE pretty much has its own continuity, as opposed to KQ7, which not only retconned an important plot point, but completely threw preexisting character personalities to the wind. Which, of course, is a dick move if ever there was one.
If KQ7 and MoE haters can agree on something, it's that MoE is easier to ignore. It meanders off into its own little world (Daventry and King Graham are what they are in name only, for instance); however, you can't just forget that Edgar's entire back-story was changed for the sake of making him into a cliched Prince Charming for the equally cliched Barbie protagonist to hook up with.
Quote from: darthkiwi on July 20, 2012, 01:59:47 AMI take it you've tried fiddling with the troubleshooting sliders in XP? (Or am I thinking of '98 there?)
Not sure what you're referring to...
Quote from: 929572 on July 20, 2012, 03:50:48 PM
Quote from: Lambonius on July 18, 2012, 09:10:47 PM
I'd still rather play it than KQ7.
I'm with you there. I've always preferred gritty over kiddie.
Besides, MoE pretty much has its own continuity, as opposed to KQ7, which not only retconned an important plot point, but completely threw preexisting character personalities to the wind. Which, of course, is a dick move if ever there was one.
If KQ7 and MoE haters can agree on something, it's that MoE is easier to ignore. It meanders off into its own little world (Daventry and King Graham are what they are in name only, for instance); however, you can't just forget that Edgar's entire back-story was changed for the sake of making him into a cliched Prince Charming for the equally cliched Barbie protagonist to hook up with.
Yeah KQ7 was definitely a step in the wrong direction. KQ5 brought in a ton of new fans with an interface that is easy to use and has aged very well, and KQ6 offered a new standard of lore and story arc to the series.
KQ7 managed to mess up both, it's not even incredibad like KQ5.
I don't completely hate KQ7 -- I actually do like the plot, I don't mind the retcon of Edgar's backstory... but I despise the changes to both Valanice and Rosella as characters, I completely can't stand the interface... and can we stop for a second and wonder why anyone thought an animation style where humans have four fingers instead of five was at all acceptable?
Ask the creator of the Simpsons about that one.
I don't hate KQ7 either. It has its issues, but it was still fun enough. I think of everything, my biggest dislikes are also the changes to the two characters, and that the first chapter of the game was so god awful boring.
I liked 7. It introduced me to Kings Quest and it was the first game where I could play a female lead character! I love it!
Enchantermon: I was referring to the XP compatibility sliders. At least, I *think* they're available in XP; they might actually have been phased out by that point.
If I remember correctly, you have to go to the desktop, right click anywhere, select properties, go to the Display tab, then click "Advanced". There should be a series of tabs on the window that then opens. In one of them is a slider that will allow you to alter graphical settings. Ideally you shouldn't pull it more than two or three slots to the left, because that would disable DirectX and make the game unplayable. But I found playing with them useful when I was getting old games working. It was essentially the older version of Windows' compatibility modes.
I agree that 7 isn't the best in the series. I don't mind the Edgar retcon - I mean, the games consistently retconned throughout, such that Manannan had no brother before 5 and Cassima was just a kidnapped princess between 5 and 6. But the whole thing felt very cartoony. I'm also not sure how I feel about bringing in the Fates and the Dream world: they're such important things, which underlie all of human experience, and they were really just sort of brushed over in the final chapters. I also found Rosella kind of annoying. And Falderal drove me crazy.
Having said that, it still feels like more of a KQ game than MoE. It's still an adventure game, and it still features members of the royal family. That's not to say that I prefer it to MoE *as a game* - like I said, I think MoE has a lot going for it - but I do at least think KQ7 was a reasonable (if not brilliant) addition to the series. MoE just didn't really belong in the KQ series at all.
Quote from: waltzdancing on July 21, 2012, 05:10:36 PM
I liked 7. It introduced me to Kings Quest and it was the first game where I could play a female lead character! I love it!
So...you were
flattered at the fact that you had the opportunity to play two female leads, one of which was a self-centered bimbo, and the other of which was an overprotective shrew? If I were a girl, I'd be pissed at the caricatures that they ended up being. (In fact, I'm a guy and I'm
already pissed at them.)
Not trying to start an argument here, I'm just wondering how anyone could possibly finish this game without a bitter taste in their mouth.
Speaking theoretically, as I am of course not Adrienne, but I am female. :) But--even if their personalities and actions are kind of irritating in a number of places...it's still better than NO female lead character. And despite their annoying qualities, they are still two female leads who are actively adventuring and saving the day. That's great! I really liked that about KQ7 when I played years ago, too! (I played it in high school...sophomore year, so I was 15/16.)
As an adult with some more perspective, I can now recognize the flaws in how they wrote and voiced the characters isn't entirely progressive, and is often kind of annoying.
But they still take action and save the day and they do it with intelligence and wit rather than violence or sex, so hey, they're doing something right, and there's still a positive message/lesson to take away from that as a girl playing a video game.
It is a little depressing but I am inclined to agree with Katie. They definitely screwed them up in a lot of ways, but almost 20 years later we still find the industry turning Samus into an emotionally unstable butterfly in Other M, and creating that whole horrendous episode with the new Tomb Raider.
Because women are only strong if they (a) have a man to impress or (b) have a man to rape them!
Ugh.
On a related note, I freaking love Erica Reed. I really can't wait for everyone else to get to see her in action, who she is, and how awesome she is.
I don't see anything wrong with a woman wanting to impress a man - hell, a lot of stories revolve around men wanting to impress women! It just has to be handled properly. Metroid: Other M.... woof... yeah. That one was a little like "Really??"
Bt
As *a* motivation, and reflection of real life, yeah, it's fine. But it sucks to have a character--any character--who's been strong, independent, and awesome suddenly do a 180 and change completely to impress someone for sake of "romance".
Hell, it sucks when that happens in REAL life! Why would I want it in video games?
I haven't played Metroid myself, or Tomb Raider, but I have heard about it. I mean, personally, I find it distasteful that we've gone from Samus's androgynous armor in the original Metroid to things like "zero suit" Samus. To add to that a game where she frets and worries about some guy and downgrades her effectiveness in a fight on orders he didn't even give to her...yeah. Fail.
(a summary of what I've read about what happens in that game)
The Samus needing her powers authorized drove me nuts for sure, but that is small change to some of the crap they pull with her.
The absolute worst part is when Ridley shows up, you know, that alien she has blown to smithereens in almost every single game. For some reason she has a complete mental breakdown when she see him, and a bunch of Gears of War types have to drag her away.
I haven't played/seen enough Metroid to know who he is, but that does sound pretty crappy and out of character from what you're describing!
Quote from: KatieHal on July 23, 2012, 10:44:20 PM
I haven't played/seen enough Metroid to know who he is, but that does sound pretty crappy and out of character from what you're describing!
You are no longer allowed to develop video games until you have played and completed Super Metroid. That is all.
LOL. I don't even remotely own the right console to play it! Does watching an LP count? :)
Quote from: KatieHal on July 24, 2012, 01:27:55 PM
LOL. I don't even remotely own the right console to play it! Does watching an LP count? :)
SNES emulators and roms are super easy to come by. Should be no problem to get your hands on it. ;)
Super Metroid, with a silent protagonist and only a little dialogue at the beginning manages to be an unbelievable experience through the sheer merit of good game design. So yes, play it.
Fair enough :) I'll add it to the pile of unplayed games I've got on here.
(Currently including but not limited to: Beyond Good & Evil, Beneath a Steel Sky, Machinarium, Portal, Portal 2, Space Quest Incinerations, Braid, and IA's SQ2.) (Though I have at least watched Paw's LP of the last.)
I understand, I have a pretty big list.
Oh wow. ZSNES. This takes me back to playing Crono Trigger my senior year in college (never finished. I got really close, though. Oh man, now I wanna play that again!)
Quote from: KatieHal on July 24, 2012, 07:38:35 PM
Oh wow. ZSNES. This takes me back to playing Crono Trigger my senior year in college (never finished. I got really close, though. Oh man, now I wanna play that again!)
Yeah, ZSNES is where it's at. CronoTrigger should be easy to find. If you loved that game, give Final Fantasy VI a shot, too. But first, SUPER METROID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think I started playing that at one point, too, but didn't play too much of it.
Is FFVI the one with the opera song people gush over?
Yes. Maria and Draco. I've never played it, but yes. XD
Quote from: Bludshot on July 26, 2012, 09:47:53 AM
Is FFVI the one with the opera song people gush over?
Yeah, but that's not why the game is great. It's just overall the tightest classic Final Fantasy game--combat, story, production values--it's a beast of an SNES game. For my money, it's even better than the much beloved FFVII (which personally, I found kinda boring.) I DO think Crono Trigger is just a little bit better/more unique/memorable, but FFVI is still very very good. The two games are definitely birds of a feather.
As opposed to the weird, crazy, overdone and totally lacking logic or cohesiveness stories FF does nowadays? (From what I hear--I haven't REALLY played any since FF9)
But hey, they're very pretty!
I played FF10, don't play it. From a production standpoint it is perfectly par for the series, but it is basically the things I didn't like about FF7 shoved into the spotlight, with a bland linear walk through levels fighting jellies.
The plot is also all over the place, I know that seems kind of normal for FF but it is a glaring issue here.
I think that's 7, not 6.
The opera song? It isn't 7, I have played that one a few times.
Yeah, the opera song is definitely FFVI (originally released in the U.S. as FFIII, despite all logic.)
I skipped all the PS1 FFs, played FFVII much later, didn't care for it. It hasn't aged well.
I agree about FFX being obnoxious. I f****** LOVED FFXII though. That game was amazing.
**Just so we're clear, I mean I loved Final Fantasy Twelve, not Final Fantasy X2. *shudder*
Can't speak to it aging well or not I played it maybe a few years after it came out, at the time I thought it was better than sliced bread, I played it again, still liked it but I think there were a lot story elements that are pretty silly/dumb.
I knew how the game worked then so I definitely have rose shades concerning the gameplay, what did you find dated about it? Also what do you like about 12? I never got the impression it was particularly praised.
I didn't HATE FFVII, I just found myself not being captivated enough with it to actually play through it after the first couple of hours. I dunno--I just think the story didn't grab me. Plus, I found the battle sequences to be pretty tedious.
As for FFXII--man, where to begin? It's been a while since I played it, but at the time, it was hands down the best looking game on the PS2, so it had that going for it right out of the gate. The story seemed a lot more sophisticated than in FFX, which was the most recent FF game I had played at the time--a lot more political intrigue, a lot less "mystical chosen one" cliche. What I absolutely LOVED about it though, was the fact that most battles were avoidable--you could see most monsters coming before the battle was thrust upon you, combat was more along the lines of Knights of the Old Republic than traditional Final Fantasy, which was a huge improvement, in my opinion. The characters were a lot more memorable and developed--less one dimensional than in some of the previous games. The music was f****** awesome; the leveling system was really cool, it had an utterly badass game-spanning monster hunting side quest with amazing pay-offs. I dunno, I just loved pretty much everything about it.
In my opinion it was a VASTLY underrated game. Final Fantasy purists weren't happy with it, but pretty much for all of the reasons that I thought it was spectacular, so go figure. By comparison, Final Fantasy X seemed really derivative; FFXII was a revelation.
Well the purists are a vocal bunch. I like FF7 but honestly, I could care less about Sephiroth, a few cutscenes and somehow is he the bestest game villain ever or something.
Nevermind you only fight his clone...thing the whole time.
Quote from: crayauchtin on July 20, 2012, 01:39:17 PM
I'm with Darthkiwi -- I have two problems with Mask of Eternity.
1) I just don't think it was ever *finished* -- it just doesn't feel like they were ready to release it when they did. Some parts are polished nicely, but most of them aren't at all.
2) It got called a King's Quest. Like, an extension of the series. It should have been a standalone game or the beginning of a total separate spin-off series, so they could have marketed it as a standalone game AND marketed to King's Quest fans. But that's not what they did -- and that's probably the biggest downfall of the game.
To address point 1...According to Ken Williams, the game kinda wasn't finished. It was, but it also wasn't. Roberta was a perfectionist, and was still tinkering with the game almost up to the release date. She felt that along the way (after Ken left Sierra) she'd lost total creative control over her game, and was trying to reassert it and bring it back to the way she wanted it to be. Sierra's lawyers apparently floated the idea of suing her if she didn't hand over the game, and she had some negotiations with them and they allowed her to make some changes, at which point she felt comfortable in letting it go.
To address point 2...Mask was considered by Roberta a KQ game from the beginning. She never considered it a spin off, nor was the name simply slapped on. It was referred to as KQ8 by her and Sierra all throughout the design process. All of the core elements which people tend to loathe (Lack of Royal Family as protagonists, violence, etc) were decided by Roberta early on. She went into KQ8 with the intention of starting anew. She felt that it was time to unload the Royal Family, that there wasn't much more she could do with them (Graham was older, Alex was King of the Green Isles, Rosella was in Etheria) and so it was time to introduce a new character. At the time, many people actually agreed with her---There is a gamespot preview from '96 where she talks about unloading the Royal Family, and the people in the room--the game reporters she was speaking to--breathed a sigh of relief to hear that a new protagonist would be in KQ8. The idea was to take KQ and bring it beyond what it had already been, to create a mix of the adventure genre with the other then popular genres.
The game's story in and of itself is probably Roberta's best, and she labored 3 years and spent 3 million making it....I think it was worth it in the end. It's a game I myself at least greatly enjoy and I do consider it a King's Quest.
The only reason it was branded as "King's Quest: Mask of Eternity" rather than "KQ8: Mask of Eternity" was she felt having 8 in the title might offput new players who'd never played a KQ game before. She considered having KQ7 be simply labelled "King's Quest: The Prince-less Bride" for the same reason.
I don't think the contention is whether or not it was officially KQ8--it's just whether, in retrospect, some people here think it would have been a better idea to do it as a spin-off rather than a direct sequel and part of the existing series, for the reasons stated ad nauseum.
Quote from: KatieHal on July 28, 2012, 09:57:10 AM
I don't think the contention is whether or not it was officially KQ8--it's just whether, in retrospect, some people here think it would have been a better idea to do it as a spin-off rather than a direct sequel and part of the existing series, for the reasons stated ad nauseum.
I think it should be viewed the same way as say, Star Trek: The Next Generation is, compared to Star Trek. Sort of a new beginning. Both Star Trek, just different.. Both the same universe, same sort of thing, just a new generation. Not a spin off per se...I think a problem is that it stopped at KQ8. Had the series continued with Roberta, KQ8 might not have felt so much like the odd man out and people might've become more accepting over time if there were more games like KQ8 albeit with refinements and tweaks. I view KQ8 as a transitional game like KQ5 was. It's like, imagine if the KQ series had stopped at KQ5...A game very different in gameplay and whatnot from the rest of the series. It'd feel like the odd brother, and it'd have left the series at an anticlimax like KQ8 did.
Quote from: KatieHal on July 28, 2012, 09:57:10 AM
I don't think the contention is whether or not it was officially KQ8--it's just whether, in retrospect, some people here think it would have been a better idea to do it as a spin-off rather than a direct sequel and part of the existing series, for the reasons stated ad nauseum.
Precisely.
Honestly -- and I know this is going to earn me
a lot of heat -- I think Roberta's best decisions when it comes to the KQ series tended to come from other people. She created a good world, good characters, good games.... but I don't think storytelling is her strong suit most of the time and that's probably a big reason why she thought that it was a good idea to unload the main characters and create a new main character and *not* make it a spinoff or sequel series.
Honestly I think Roberta's input lost value after the initial breakthrough with the first games. She had an idea for a "3D adventure" at a time when PC games were really only text adventures, and she should be applauded for that. That said I don't think Roberta understood her own series, and I think you are absolutely right that a lot of great KQ moments came from the Sierra team in general.
When you look at the older KQs, 5-7, I think this really shows. It wasn't enough to just slap some fairy tales and draconian puzzles into a game anymore. When she hired outside help for the story in KQ6, the expanded story element worked while still feeling like a KQ game.
I'm guessing she must not have understood that, because she proceeded to make two games that were considered oversimplified and lacking in engaging stories.
In fact I really don't understand her creative process, maybe someone with more Sierra knowledge can enlighten me, but from little I know of her she never seems to have a stable idea of what she wants out of a project.
"Back when I got started, which sounds like ancient history, back then the demographics of people who were into computer games, was totally different, in my opinion, than they are today. Back then, computers were more expensive, which made them more exclusive to people who were maybe at a certain income level, or education level. So the people that played computer games 15 years ago were that type of person. They probably didn't watch television as much, and the instant gratification era hadn't quite grown the way it has lately. I think in the last 5 or 6 years, the demographics have really changed, now this is my opinion, because computers are less expensive so more people can afford them. More "average" people now feel they should own one."
For such scorn of the "average" people, I find it weird that she gave this interview in 1999, after she made MOE, a game where you stab things until cartoon blood spurts out of them.
Well one thing you learn about Roberta if you play all her games (If Roberta is a him, I appologise. I never looked at a photo) is that she isn't always right.
Roberta if I had to give her one fault, and I have to guess as I don't read a lot of what she has written, is that she doesn't think on the same wavelength as the audiance and for Kings Quest that has been a booming success as the fantasy atmosphere is one of the major draws.
Now for Phantasmagoria 2 however Roberta actually attributed its failure, if the rumors are correct, to its timing. Ignoring the game's poor gameplay and story elements so terrible that it is "So bad its good". The game would have failed no matter when it was released. (Don't get me wrong, the game does some things very well and even revolutionary... but as a whole it would be enjoyable if the gameplay wasn't so bad)
It wouldn't surprise me to hear that many of the worst story and gameplay elements of Mask of Eternity was genuinly Roberta's idea.
Now the biggest problem with Kings Quest Mask of Eternity was that it was a terrible slogging wretch of a game that also needlessly uses the WORST of the WORST of point and click elements. Fans will forgive anything so long as it is good.
A game that takes place in the Kings Quest world could have even worked but it uses so little and ignores everything else it might as well have been a solo game. Even Daventry seemed alien to anyone who played the games and knew it well.
QuoteIn fact I really don't understand her creative process, maybe someone with more Sierra knowledge can enlighten me, but from little I know of her she never seems to have a stable idea of what she wants out of a project.
I have a lot of respect for her, but it may be best to think of her as a very creative person who isn't on the same wavelength as everyone else. Sort of in her own little world.
QuoteWhen she hired outside help for the story in KQ6, the expanded story element worked while still feeling like a KQ game
Yeah, in my oppinion KQ6 was where Point and clicks started to reach their point of perfection. Where the puzzles in the game weren't just there for padding but where they actually expanded on the setting, plot, or even character. Some of the solutions don't just feel like puzzle solving but completing the story itself making Alexander somewhat of a studious and intelligent hero who prefers to use his virtue, wit, and compassion to solve his problems in order to save his beloved.
It was where point and clicks started to become more then just an alternate version of a puzzle game. It is where they almost started to become something akin to a visual novel where you just happen to solve puzzles. It elevated the games.
Five did this too but Six is where it started to hit home. It is why when I judge point and clicks I actually also judge it on its merits as a story. It is why I think the loss of the popularity of point and click adventures (not entirely accurate, if I remember correctly its failure was because they became too costly for their success rate. Not because interest wasn't there) was quite tragic to me. It was a story driven genre where I tend to play a witty intelligent hero who solves great problems with wit rather then raw strength.
What Mask of Eternity needed to do with its story was either seperate itself from Kings Quest or use it to its advantage. What little story the game had did not work for an action/adventure, and what it chose to ignore has created aggrivation.
So this is mostly related to an earlier discussion in the thread I actually started playing FFVI, I think I'm about 10 hours in.
I'm liking it so far, and I really appreciate that nothing needlessly convoluted or downright stupid has worked it's way into the plot (no one is a dream spirit/Alien baby...clone/or trying to compress time).
At the same time the beginning of the game is really bland, it really irks me when RPGs, being a genre that is usually telling an epic saga, don't make any effort to engage you until you'll several hours in, how many players do you lose doing that?
So far I'm digging combat and the magic system, better than that drawing nonsense anyway. I think I like it better than materia too.